Roger Federer claims that he was impressed with Hyeon Chung after his 7-5 6-1 victory over the South Korean to advance to the Semi-Finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The 20 time grand slam champion secured a comfortable victory to seal his place in the last four in the Californian Desert and secure his world number one ranking for another couple of weeks. The win also meant that it was his best ever start to the season since 2006.
After the match Federer spoke very highly of his opponent and believes that Chung has a very bright future, “He showed Good intensity, Solid in his mind. I like his speed of shots, you know, forehand and backhand. There’s always — yeah, it’s a heavy ball, and he’s very consistent. In today’s game, that’s a lot. And then he’s good on the defence, and he also likes to come to the net. So I see a lot of good things moving forward for him.”
Federer also spoke about his good friend Tommy Haas last night, who formally retired from Tennis after his match, “I’m just very happy for him that he was able to take this big decision. You know, it’s not an easy one, but it should be one of happiness and one of pride, and I think that’s what he felt. At the same time, it’s emotional. That’s what it’s supposed to be, right? So I was happy to be there and to share the moment with him, because it was his moment and it was great to be there.”
The Swiss tennis legend will now play Croatian Borna Coric, who has reached his first ever masters 1000 Semi-Final after a long three set win over 7th seed Kevin Anderson. Coric and Federer have met once before, with the world number one winning the contest back in 2015 in Dubai. The Croatian youngster is looking to add Federer to his list of high-profile scalps, which includes Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
